The recent admission from Howard Lutnick that he visited Jeffrey Epstein's island is just part of the problem in Donald Trump's administration, a political analyst has claimed.
The Secretary of Commerce confirmed he, his wife, and their four children had met with Epstein on the island. Testifying yesterday, Lutnick said, "I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies … We had lunch on the island. That is true. For an hour."
But Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman believes this meeting is only part of the problem and that it should not cast a shadow over Lutnick's shortcomings in office. The economist wrote, "It would be tempting to dismiss Lutnick as a buffoon.
"Yet despite his intelligence deficit, he sits at the intersection of not one but at least two ugly conspiracies." Krugman claimed Lutnick had been involved in the "money-laundering through cryptocurrency", saying the Secretary of Commerce had been "adjacent" to the cryptocurrency Tether through his sons.
Krugman added, "Lutnick has in the past vehemently denied having any association with Jeffrey Epstein, insisting that he severed all contact with the pedophile ringleader in 2005. But even the highly limited, extremely redacted release of the Epstein files — everything we’ve seen reeks of a major coverup — shows that he was flat-out lying.
"In any previous administration, Lutnick’s naked conflicts of interest and his Epstein lies would have led to his immediate departure.
"But Trump 47 is using his position to massively enrich himself, and whatever the Justice Department is hiding, what we already know about Trump’s personal history is damning — 'Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything.'
"Lutnick may be under wraps for a while, but don’t expect him to resign. Pushing him out would be a tacit admission that huge conflicts of interest, family business that enables crime and association with sexual predators are bad. Oh, and let’s not forget jaw-dropping stupidity. Not going to happen.
"Thus while Lutnick appears on the surface like a dim-witted backroom grifter, he is a warning of something far more sinister and malign lurking below."
